Toothbrush



E. GLASS.

TOOTHBRUSH.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.26, 1919.

1,378,781. Patented May 17,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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E. GLASS.

TOOTHBRUSH.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-26. 1919.

1,378,781, Patented May 17, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Tzygci- Z5 E GZQ as J gearing. Q

units STATES,

PATENT. OFFICE.

ERNEST GLASS, 0]? READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

'roo'rnn nusn.

Application filed December and useful Improvements in Toothbrushes;

and it do hereby declare the "following to be a fdll, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved tooth brush and one object of the invention is to provide a tooth brush having a rotatably mounted brush carrying shaft and having improved gearing for imparting rotary movement to the brush carrying shaft.

nother object of the invention is to so construct the gearing that the main drive gear may be rotated through the medium of a tape when the brush is moved in one direction and through-the medium of a resilient spring element when "the brush is moving in an opposite direction, the main drive rection. I

Another object of this invention is to so construct this gearing that the direction of rotation of the brush shaft may be readily controlled. It has been found that teeth should be'brushed from the gums toward the biting' edges or faces and this construction will prevent the brush from rotating in a direction from the biting edges of the teeth toward the gums. This improved tooth brush is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved brush.

/ F'g. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the improved brush.

, Fig. 3 is a view showing the brush in top plan, the gear housing being shown in section on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

14 is an enlarged elevation of the Fig. 5- is a-section taken on the line 5 5 .Fi 6 is air-enlarged sectional viewshowing t e manner of connecting the brush head with the brush shaft, and e t Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line 7-7 ofF1g.6. fl

'Thls improved brushis provided with a.

housing 10 which will beknown as a gear housing or handle and a shaft housing Specification of Letters Patent.

gear at all times rotating in one di-- 26, 1919. Seria1No.'347,363.

Patented May 17, 1921.

which extends from the upper portion of I the gear housing at one side thereof and is braced by the diagonally extending brace 12. The brush shaft 13 is rotatably mounted in. the shaft housing 11 and extends beyond its outer end thereof with its outerend portions reduced and carrying a brush head 14; the inner ends of whichis flattened. as shown at 15 and fits into the slotted end portion 16 of the shaft. A securing nut 17 is screwed upon the threaded end portion of the reduced outer end of this shaft and engages the brush head so that the brush head will be securely held in place. and turned withthe brush shaft.

The main driving gear 12 is loosely mounted upon a vertically extending shaft 19 positioned in the gear housing and rotatably mounted therein and this main drive gear 18 is engaged by the beveled pinions 20 and 21 loosely mounted upon the inner end portion of the brush shaft 13 upon opposite sides of the main drive gear'so that these pinions rotate in opposite directions upon the brush shaft. A clutch sleeve 22 which is slidably mounted upon the brush 'shaft between the pinions and limited in its sliding movement and held against rotation upon the brush shaft by the piii'23 which extends through the'slot 24 of the sleeve, is provided with a collar 25 engaged by a shift- Qing key 26 slidably mounted in the head of the gear housing so that the clutch sleeve \may be selectively brought into engagement with the pinions 20 and 21 and thus the direction of rotation of the brush shaft controlled. A shaft 27 is positioned horizontally in the gear housing and supported from the wall of the housing and also by the I bearing 28 through which the shaft 19 'exnected with a hook or other similar device secured in a wall. A spring 36 is coiled with the hub and has its outer end portion 110. I about thishub with its inner end connected teeth of the clutch 38 loosely mounted upon A from the pulling will be connected with a hook or other permanent member and the brush will be used in the usual manner. As the brush is moved back and forth along the teeth the brush shaft will be rotated and the brush turned with the bristles moving from the gums toward the biting edges or faces of the teeth,

the upper teeth of one side and the lower teeth of the second side will first be brushed and the latch 26 will then be moved to cause the shaft to rotate in an opposite direction and the upper teeth of the second side and lower teeth of the first side will then be brushed. As the brush is moved to draw the tape outwardly a gear 30 will be rotated and since the slot 33 is cut at an incline as shown, the gear will be moved along the shaft 19 and into engagement with the gear 29. This gear 29 will thus be rotated and through the medium of this gear 29 rotary movement will be transmitted to the main gear 18 with which the pinions 20 and 21 mesh. As this gear 18 rotates the clutch teeth 37 will slip past the the shaft 19 and held against rotation there on by pin 39 and yieldably held in engage- .ment with the teeth 37 by a spring 40.

When the brush is moved to relieve the tape strain the spring will unwind and in doing so will rotate the gear 30 in an opposite direction to that in which. it was previously rotated and will of course wind the tape upon the hub. As the gear 30 rotates in the second direction the gear will move out of engagement with the gear 29 and upon the pin reaching the end of the slot 33 continued rotation of the gear will cause the shaft 19 to be rotated. The teeth of the clutch element 38 carried by the shaft will then have operative engagement with the clutch teeth 37 thus causing the gear 18 to continue rotation in the same direction. It will thus be seen that this brush is so constructed that the gear18 will have continued rotation in the samedirec: tion without regard to whether the gear 361 is rotated under action of the tape 3501*".

spring 36.

What is claimed is 1. A device of the class set forth comprising a rotary brush, a shaft carrying the brush, a support common to said brush and said shaft and adapted in the use of the device to be manipulated to reciprocate the brush, a driving element rotatably carried by the support, means adapted to be actuated by the manipulation of the support to by the support, means adapted to be actuated by the manipulationpfthe support to rotate said element I in reverse directions alternately, means carried by said support through which the alternate reverse rotations of said driving element impart a continuous one-way rotary motion to said shaft,

and means by which the direction of rotation of said shaft may be controlled.

3. A device of the class set forth comprising a rotary brush, a shaft carrying the brush, a support common to said brush and shaft and adapted in the use of the device to be manipulated to reciprocate the brush, a driving element rotatably carried by the support, means adapted to be actuated by the manipulation of the support to rotate said element in reverse directions alternately and consisting of a spring connected to. said support and said driving element and coiled about the latter and a pull tape connected to said driving element and coiled about the same in a direction reverse to the direction inlwhich the spring is coiled about said driving element, and means carried by said support through which the alternate reverse rotations of said driving element impart a continuous one-way ment to said shaft.

In testimony whereofI afiix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

ERNEST GLASS.

Witnesses: 3

' JAMES S. SEIDEL,

\WM. F. WEBER.

rotary move- 

